Abbas Says He'll Turn to International Community Against Israel

PA Chairman demands Tuesday night that Israel stop its aerial campaign in Gaza, threatens to turn to the international community.

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Elad Benari, 09/07/14 06:15

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas

Reuters

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas demanded on Tuesday night that Israel "immediately stop" its aerial campaign in Gaza and threatened to turn to the international community on the issue.

"The Palestinian Authority will go to all international organizations to seek protection for the Palestinian people," Abbas said in a televised statement late Tuesday night, according to AFP.

The statement came as the IDF continued Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, and as Hamas terrorists continued to fire rockets towards southern Israel. A total of 120 rockets were fired towards Israel on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, Abbas spoke with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who reportedly expressed Egypt's willingness to continue its efforts to mediate a ceasefire in the region.

The threat from Abbas is the latest in several verbal attacks he has launched against the Jewish state in recent days. On Monday night, Abbas demanded that Israel stop the airstrikes on Gaza and called them a “dangerous Israeli escalation”, but failed to condemn the rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel.

A day earlier, he called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to form an international committee to monitor and investigate what he referred to as “crimes by Israeli settlers.”

“We are preparing for a set of steps to deter the Israeli aggression and curb settlers’ crimes and the ongoing attacks against our people in the besieged Gaza strip,” stressed Abbas.

“There are actions that we must take and we will take in the very near future as it is our duty to provide protection to our people,” he added.